Put three of the largest and most influential commercial outfits in the container world together in the same room, and what happens? Amazingly, not a bar brawl, but a multifaceted analysis of the current state of containers.

In the video below, Cornelius Willis, of product marketing and strategic communications for Google, sat down with Alex Polvi of CoreOS, Kit Colbert of VMware, and Craig McLuckie of Google as each held forth on container technology -- why it's important, what it represents for businesses and IT teams, and how much remains to be done before the technology is more useful as a business tool.

All three speakers bring a different perspective to the table. Polvi believes the container world must be more than "a cellphone without apps," and be better equipped to deliver immediate value. McLuckie advocates for strong standards so that those who use or create containers have "common ground to meet [on]." Colbert sees tremendous excitement from developers and others who understand the value proposition, but more work is needed around "out-of-the-box solutions."

It's easy to see how each viewpoint overlaps with the respective company's offering, but the perspectives highlight one idea: What drives the container world hasn't been -- and can't afford to be -- the province of any one commercial enterprise.